The invention relates to a display device comprising an electrocotical medium between two substrates with a plurality of pixels arranged in rows and columns and, on a first substrate, at least a first group of electrodes for driving the pixels.
Said display devices are used, for example in television applications and data graphic display devices.
Display devices of the type described in the opening paragraph are generally known. A display device using two-pole switching elements (MIMs) is known, for example from U.S. Pat. No. 5,159,325. This Patent describes such a device in which a MIM (metal-isolator-metal) is arranged as a switching element between each pixel and a first group of electrodes, in this case the column electrodes. It is known that electrostatic charge may take place during manufacture of the supporting plates on which the switching elements are present (referred to as the active plates). Such a voltage difference may then be produced between the column electrodes that there is flashover between these column electrodes and switching elements may be damaged, while also the conducting tracks constituting the column electrodes may be damaged. The risk of damage due to fashover also applies to other switching elements.
In this Patent Application, a switching element is understood to mean both a two-pole and a three-pole switching element. Examples of two-pole switching elements are non-linear switching elements such as MIMs, diodes or varistors, but also linear switching elements. Examples of three-pole switching elements are TFTs.
To prevent said form of flashover, (series arrangements of) non-linear resistors are sometimes provided between the column electrodes.
Electrostatic flashover may also occur between the row electrodes which, dependent on the type of switching element (two-pole or three pole) used, are arranged on the same substrate or on the other substrate.